If given the choice between watching the episode that ultimately became "VCR Maintenance and Education Publishing" or watching 30 minutes of Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) go through an internal struggle of his sudden rap impulses while wearing a PayDay costume, I would choose the latter with no hesitation.

Such is the way of things in "Community" season five, episode nine.

"VCR Maintenance and Education Publishing"

It's a problem when the funniest parts of an episode are far an away a roughly collective 60 seconds dealing with a bit role that the Dean played that aired in two pieces roughly 25 minutes apart. Still, the first official "Dean entering the study room in a ridiculous costume and saying something weird" moment of the season might have been the best one in the run of the show. It told a story: "Why was the Dean channeling a troubled African American rapper?" It had a great progression and follow-up: “I like coffee and water, don’t step to me.” It also featured the Dean freaking out, which is always great.

Here's the clip:

The moment would have been a wonderful complement were it featured in a good episode. Instead, it stood out as the brief highlight in a mediocre one.

The two main elements, the "VCR" and the "Education Publishing" both had great setups that resulted in awkward plotlines. One was resolved with a dud while the other was salvaged with a classic Abed Moment.

Let's start with the plot involving Abed (Danny Pudi) and Annie (Alison Brie). Ultimately, the arc in the place that once housed Troy and Abed shows the hole that has been left in the apartment and (because everything in "Community" is meta) the show as a whole.

The reintroduction of Rachel (Brie Larson) as Abed's quirky love interest got my hopes up for a little while. However, she's yet to establish much of a presence as a character outside of her being "kind of like Abed, but normal enough to be put off by him." Fortunately, this resulted in her being charmed by Abed's "on the doorstep in the rain" moment at her locker.

Meanwhile, the bit involving the overly complex VCR-based game "Pile of Bullets" wasn't particularly great. It was entertaining to watch, but nothing spectacular outside the fact that it featured "Breaking Bad" showrunner Vince Gilligan as the narrator.

In a fitting twist, the meta-commentary surrounding the hole that Troy (Donald Glover) left in the apartment/show was made even more apparent in the other plot about the rest of the Committee to Save Greendale finding a batch of possibly stolen textbooks and the group trying to sell that like they were a stash of drugs.

The setup was great, especially with Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) initially being reluctant before diving in 100 percent to get the deal done right. However, it ended up as a hodgepodge bit where the main characters hanging around Greendale were thrown into the story and left to see what happened.

After the episode, though, my first through was "How great would Troy have been in the textbook/drug deal bit?" It presented the perfect Troy Barnes Crying scenario. Instead, we got an awkward bit where characters yelled at each other for a bit and nothing really happened.

It's wasn't the best we've seen from the writers. But at least we get Dungeons & Dragons: Part II next week. That should be good.

• I wouldn't mind seeing more of Annie awkward brother. He's the first real link we've seen of her back story (outside the weird flashback episode last season). I feel like there's more to be fleshed out from the "Annie Adderall" period, which remains the most compelling part of her character

• Abed: “You’re like ice cream cake out there. You’re overkill.”

• I can't for the life of me remember who said this. I just wrote it down in my notes. But I like it: “Just because it’s adorable doesn’t mean it’s not important.” (Update: It was Abed, according to our helpful commenter.)

• Only the deep cuts from Abed this week: "There’s not a huge amount of people in my life that haven’t kicked me out."

• This week's tag: Vince Gilligan’s wife convincing him that he should leave his job at Apple to go work in TV VCR games and taking cocaine. This wasn't as good as past weeks, but I do like the idea of delving into this man whose life was poured into this role for a forgotten medium.